Deserie R. Valloreo grew up in Clearwater, FL and currently resides in St Pete Beach. For as long as she can remember she had yearning to paint. In 2017, she enrolled in a class and learned the fundamentals of painting. Since then, she continues exploring on her own, learning from others, and refining her skills as an artist. Her works are exhibited at galleries and shows throughout the Tampa Bay area.

“I attempt to be courageous in my use of color and I am enamored with the way light touches objects. The combination of these two things results in creations that appear slightly surreal.”

Deserie is the founder of DRV Gallery.

Award-winning artist Joyce Burkholder paints outdoors in all seasons, in both Gulfport, Florida and Ontario, Canada.

Joyce specializes in painting Gulfport street scenes. She can often be seen with her easel set up, happily painting while people stop to chat.

Well known for many years of teaching painting workshops in Florida and Canada, Joyce's masterful skill with numerous mediums has developed from her life-long commitment to her artistic profession.

Patricia Burrows is a studio potter in Gulfport, Florida. Her work is inspired by flowers and the outdoor environment.

While working as an academic interventional radiologist, she was a passionate gardener and spent as much time with nature as possible. She applies botanical and whimsical effects to her work with inlaid slip drawings, flower pressing, sprigs (appliques) made with her handmade molds, and watercolor-like application of stains.

Florida artist and art educator, Debra Campbell, taught in both public and private schools for 18 years and was an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida School of Art. Debra began her studies at the Sam Fox College of Art at Washington University and continued on to get a Masters in Art Therapy at Goddard College.

Debra loves the complexities of collage and mixed media. She uses altered papers to give texture and layers to her pieces, altering them with solvents and acrylics or using tissue papers that she stains. She then paints into the art or uses solvent to further “melt” the ink. Debra aims to create visual dialogues about our environment and the meditative qualities of nature.

In addition to creating fine art, Debra uses her original mixed media pieces as surface design on wearables such as silk scarves, silk and chiffon kimonos and bags.

My life as a painter began ten years ago. I have studied and trained with many artists in the traditions of academic realism, and Impressionism, and I am finding my way to my own expression.

I had pursued other art forms through the years, acting, dance, classical piano and classical guitar. As a livelihood, I built a career in the healing arts as a Massage Therapist, and Acupuncture Physician and had a private practice for over thirty years.

As my desire to spend more time with my art studies grew stronger, I retired from my practice as a healing artist, and committed myself to growth as an artist. I hope my works encourage viewers to pursue their own passion.

After a lifetime of interesting experiences and world travel I stumbled onto a passion I didn't see on the horizon... Painting and Drawing! In 2005, I found myself in a hotel room in Germany for my job at the time with nothing to do in the evenings for 3 weeks. I picked up a few pencils and some drawing paper the next day and started trying to draw. I worked at it pretty much non stop until I I felt I could keep more than I threw away.

Well here I am several years later completely consumed with the love of art and the desire to paint and draw.

I hope you find some of my work personally inspiring and even more, that it stirs up a longing for your own adventure into creativity and personal expression. The secret is pretty basic...it takes a willingness to be not so good at first to develop the skill to be what you hope to become.

Amy began focusing on taking her artwork to a new level in the last three years after moving to Gulfport. She currently works part-time at the Imagine Museum providing an outlet for learning and inspiration. Amy earned a BA in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana where she found her artistic expression in painting and photography.

Amy is a member of PAVA, the Suntan Arts Center and the Morean Arts Center and her artwork has been accepted to various juried shows including the Art Festival Beth-el 2022 and 2024, the Gulfport Fine Arts Festival, Art Jones Artist Studio Tours, PAVA’s Cool Art Show, and the Warehouse Arts District Association. Her work has also been accepted into juried shows at the Provincetown Art Association Museum and two group shows at AMP Gallery in Provincetown, MA where she previously lived.

When I picked up my brushes four years ago and committed to jump in to my oil painting dreams, I couldn’t have imagined where the journey would take me. An artist friend encouraged me to take a daily painting challenge and shortly after, on a long shot wish, I applied to and was granted the Gulfport Merchants Chamber Rise and Shine Award for emerging artists. I showed my work at Art Walks and Fine Arts Festivals and have found my way into producing and selling my paintings.

Many of my works are done through Plein Air painting, which is outdoors, on site with natural light and elements. I am training myself to “see” the subtleties of light, shadows, values of color and hue. My goal is to let nature or human made objects speak for themselves through my own interpretation of how they flow through space, time and light. I love to play with undertones of ochre, burnt sienna, cadmium yellows and reds, which bring richness as a canvas base to layer my paint. I love painting locally throughout Gulfport and around my New England home. My challenge is always finding the magic in the beauty that surrounds us.

Rebecca Skelton earned her B.F.A. and M.F.A. from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama.  She worked in the advertising industry in Atlanta before moving to St. Petersburg in 1985.

Ms. Skelton's work has been collected, exhibited, and published since 1974. She has taught art classes as an adjunct professor for University of Tampa, St. Petersburg College, USF St. Petersburg, HCC Ybor, and Eckerd College as well as for the Morean Arts Center, Creative Clay, Youth Arts Corps, and the Dali Museum. Her work can be seen in the Morean Arts Center, Florida CraftArt Gallery, Davidson’s Fine Art, and Articles.

As a volunteer, Ms. Skelton has participated in many community projects, including for St. Petersburg’s First Night, the Museum of Fine Arts Garden Party series, the Salvador Dali Museum, WMNF, the Humane Society, American Stage, Stageworks, Tampa Aids Network, Visual Aids NYC, Habitat for Humanity, CASA, Katrina/Rita hurricane relief, Family Resources, Family Services, Bayfront Hospital and Southeastern Guide Dogs.

Dawn came to create art relatively late in life, after an advertising career and working as communications director at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts. She is self taught, spent most of her life in Virginia, and now resides in Gulfport, Florida.

Since she began making fiber paintings in 2017, Dawn has been honored to receive the first place award in Florida CraftAt’s 2021 Members’ Show and in Fearless Fiber at Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa FL, as well as four awards of distinction: New River Art Juried Biennial, Moss Art Center, Blacksburg, VA; Fiber Art Now magazine; and Contemporary Fiber in Florida and the 2022 Art Festival, Florida CraftArt, St. Petersburg, FL. She served as juror for Felt: Fiber Transformed 2020, Fiber Art Network, and has had her work featured in Outsider Art Magazine and on the Summer 2019 cover of Fiber Art Now.

Dawn’s felted creations have been shown in Red Truck Gallery, New Orleans; MIZE Gallery St. Petersburg, FL; Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton NJ; Brenda McMahon Gallery and DRV Gallery, Gulfport, FL; Florida CraftArt, St. Petersburg, FL; Art Center Sarasota and juried fine art shows including the American Craft Council show in Atlanta.

"My love for Florida’s waterways and wildlife is expressed through my art. I feel most at home underwater or paddling. I love to share the feeling of deep connection to nature through watercolor paintings that I create to inspire everyone to get outside and appreciate the beauty and abundance of wild Florida. My paintings utilize a special layering technique that creates depth and interest. I feature the patterns that exist in life supporting ecosystems that permeate all life.

I donate a portion of all of my art sales to the Florida Springs Institute and the Florida Springs Council supporting their dedication to protecting our precious water and aquifer.”

Cynthia Zontek, a Floridian for over 15 years, is a resident of Gulfport and can best be described as curious in all things. Retirement has allowed her the freedom to indulge in her passions for spiritual exploration and creative expressions through painting, clay and wood sculpting. Her spiritual journey inspires and informs her life and art. She uses meditation, music, and prayer to enter the creative state. And seeks to allow the divine to transcend and inspire the work.